1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to telephone service where other than the calling party pays the charge for telephone calls.
2. Description of Prior Art
Today's typical family is more dispersed than ever. Sometimes even a nuclear family is dispersed, such as when the children grow up and go to college. Often, the head of the family desires for the family members to keep in as close contact as possible, and telecommunication is certainly one avenue. It is not uncommon for a parent to say "call me collect, anytime", and some have even given their children a telephone calling card for just such a purpose. A calling card allows the holder to not only call the parent, effectively "collect", but also allows calling a sibling, with the parent paying the charges for the call. Alas, a calling card can be also abused by calling people who are outside the set of people contemplated by the parent, and it also can be lost or stolen.
In a different context, years ago I have invented the "800 service", where a telephone subscriber, perhaps a service supplier such as an insurance company, can elect to pay for all incoming calls, in contradistinction to normal practice. In implementing this service, the customer is assigned a number within a pseudo area code "800". Whoever dials that number is connected to a database node which translates the 800 number to the actual number of the customer and, thereafter, the call is transferred, or rerouted, to the customer's number. The 800 area code designation provides an easy means for the local telephone company to know that the calling party is not to be charged for the call.
Building on this capability, a system now exists that allows redirection of incoming calls. In operation, the "800 number" call is coupled to a system that prompts the user for redirection information, and when that is provided, the database in the system performs the necessary translation and the call is rerouted accordingly. All of these numbers to which calls are rerouted are associated with a single customer. They are the customer's phones, which happen to be in different locations. All charges associated with those phones are that customer's responsibility.
This capability is useful for a customer who is a commercial establishment that desires any and all people to call it. While it offers the notion of someone other than the calling party paying for the call, it does not provide the capabilities necessary for solving the above-described problem where a party wishes to encourage calls among a select set of people and is willing to accept the charges, but only for such calls.
Another conventional arrangement where a number (or even many) telecommunication end points can call each other but the charges are paid for by a single sponsor is a network of locations owned by a single company. Typically each location is serviced by a PBX and calls made from such telecommunication end points are paid for by the company. Of course, in a very real sense all of those telecommunication end points belong to a single subscriber, and all calls from such telecommunication end points are paid for by the subscriber--whether the calls are to other company locations or not.
In summary, the needs of a dispersed family are not met with known arrangements.